Aloha filed CH11 BK

[ATrude777]

Aloha Airlines filed for bankruptcy protection today for the second time in just over three years.

The state's No. 2 carrier filed for Chapter 11 reorganization with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Honolulu, listing assets and liabilities both in excess of $100 million.

http://honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080320/BREAKING03/80320067

Alex

[DAL767-400ER]

Certainly had to be expected. Mesa's bottom-feeding, money-bleeding Go! crap is certainly putting the hurting to both AQ and HA, but HA has the advantage that they fly the way more efficient 717 (over AQ's 732s), and have FF/interline/codeshare agreements with 5 of the Big 6 US carriers feeding them traffic, whereas AQ has only UA to rely on.

[Uncle Jay]

Not to worry

Mesa Air Snooze! will only survive long enough to put one or the other competitors out of business then it too will disappear. What will be left is one carrier, which will then raise prices high enough that SOuthwest will enter the market via ATA code sharing. Then all will be good.

[Bok269]

Certainly had to be expected. Mesa's bottom-feeding, money-bleeding Go! crap is certainly putting the hurting to both AQ and HA, but HA has the advantage that they fly the way more efficient 717 (over AQ's 732s), and have FF/interline/codeshare agreements with 5 of the Big 6 US carriers feeding them traffic, whereas AQ has only UA to rely on.

IIRC AQ does better with the 732s than HA with the 717s...I think the bigger issue is the fact that jets are running the routes in the first place.

[AA 1818]

I swear, if Hawaiians let this airline go, they are idiotic. What do they expect, with AQ gone, the fares are going to remain low? AQ provides vital services in other reigons as well, and some of their trans-pacific routes are essential. Will GO! fulfill those obligations as well? No. It is a sad day indeed, and I hope that somone is able to purchase and restructure AQ allowing them to overcome GO! I also think that is is horrible that Hawaiian officials allowed GO! to enter the market to begin with. We all know that with GO! operating below cost, profits from the mainland is being funneled to GO! in order to make ends meet - something that AQ is not privilaged enough to have. What a jip!

[IberiaMD-87]

IIRC AQ does better with the 732s than HA with the 717s...

I also heard this. The main reason are believed to be the payments to be made by Hawaiian for the new 717s. The 717 are nevertheless more economical to operate for several reasons. Can somebody explain the impact of GO! ? There are many statements that GO! operates with only 60% load-factor and this canīt be that THE big impact for Aloha?

Regards, IB M87

[HalcyonDays]

Can somebody explain the impact of GO! ? There are many statements that GO! operates with only 60% load-factor and this canīt be that THE big impact for Aloha?

Regards, IB M87

And also they operate with CRJs, which are much harder to operate economically. I don't immediately know of another low-cost no-frills operator who uses CRJs..... They must be discounting fares to well below cost, unless they are subsidized by larger corporate overheads.

[Bok269]

I also heard this. The main reason are believed to be the payments to be made by Hawaiian for the new 717s. The 717 are nevertheless more economical to operate for several reasons. Can somebody explain the impact of GO! ? There are many statements that GO! operates with only 60% load-factor and this canīt be that THE big impact for Aloha?

Regards, IB M87

The way I understand it, Go! has launched a predatory pricing war against AQ and HA. Ornstein has used funds from his mainland operations to fund Go!'s extreme loss (the result of those loads plus $19 fares). AQ and HA on the other hand have tried to match it, but can't support their losses. As a result, AQ has had to file BK.

[IberiaMD-87]

Thanks a lot for your replies!

Why are they trying match those dumping-fares? The impact canīt be that great with only 50-seat jets (and these are only + - 60% full). I donīt think that Aloha and Hawaiian lost passenger-traffic because of GO!?

Call me stupid but both Aloha and Hawaiian are theoretically able to match those fares by offering 50 seats each on their 737/717s with fares even lower than those offered by GO! on competing routes with the consequence that the remaining capacity of their 732s and 717s are sold at higher fares to compensate the lowest fares offered to match GO!īs fares.

Maybe Hawaiian is in the position that they are able to compensate some losses of their shorthaul-interisland servies through their longer 767-flights whereas Aloha seems to have more problems to compensate losses because they are offering longer flights with 737NGs "only"?

Regards, IB M87

[uy707]

^AQ also probably had not enough 737NG serving not enough routes from the Mainland. Some interesting opportunities could have been developped.